| Austrofusus Temporal range: Middle Paleocene to Recent, | |
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| A dorsal view of a shell of Austrofusus glans | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| Subclass: | Caenogastropoda |
| Order: | Neogastropoda |
| Family: | Prosiphonidae |
| Genus: | Austrofusus Kobelt, 1879 |
| Type species | |
| Fusus nodosus J. E. Gray, 1843 | |
| Synonyms | |
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Austrofusus is a genus of medium-sized sea snails or whelks, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Prosiphonidae, the true whelks.
Two extant species Austrofusus glans and A. chathamensis are endemic to New Zealand waters, but most are extinct and there is an abundant fossil record within the country.
This genus is characterized by the slight development of the fasciole, which is not keeled. The columellar area is excavated at its junction with the parietal wall and becomes considerably twisted further down, though this twist occurs more regularly and less abruptly than in the other groups. This specific excavation renders the columella slightly oblique, ultimately providing the shell with an aperture reminiscent of a Verconella (synonym of Penion P. Fischer, 1884)
Perhaps the most significant and definitive distinguishing feature of Austrofusus is the protoconch. It is consistently conic, polygyrate, and sharply pointed, consisting of three or four smooth whorls. These are followed by a half to three-quarter whorl displaying a brephic sculpture of curved, backwardly sloping axial riblets, which are spaced at twice their own width. In contrast, Cominella J. E. Gray, 1850 possesses a paucispiral, globose, and slightly asymmetrical embryo that exhibits very little distinct brephic sculpture.
Austrofusus glans is not closely related to other extant New Zealand buccinid whelks, and is instead related to the Northern Hemisphere genus Colus.
Species within the genus Austrofusus include:
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